Iran ‘hopes Hariri returns to Lebanon, helps restore calm’

Iran says it hopes that Saad Hariri, who has resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister, will return home from Saudi Arabia and help restore calm to his country by pursuing his resignation there.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said in a press briefing on Monday that Hariri’s Sunday remark that he would return to Lebanon offered “a flicker of hope” that calm would be restored in the Arab country.

Hariri announced his shock resignation in Saudi Arabia and in footage broadcast by a Saudi-owned television on November 2. The announcement is widely seen to have been made under Saudi influence, and Lebanese President Michel Aoun has refused to formally consider Hariri’s resignation, saying he has to return first.

Lebanese government officials also said they believed Hariri was “being held” in Saudi Arabia against his will, and signaled that his resignation had not been voluntary.

Saudi Arabia has claimed that Hariri is a free man, and in a Sunday interview arranged in Riyadh, Hariri, too, claimed he was free to travel and would return to Lebanon “within days.”